Freeview goes HD - but where's the hardware?

I like Freeview TV. I use the current digital satellite service with the Hills Signalmaster set-top box that went on sale last May to receive free-to-air channels in crisp digital and it's a decent service.
The Freeview electronic programming guide is neat and easy to follow, the box works with my existing Sky dish so there were no installation costs and with the upcoming launch of TVNZ7 featuring some weekly shows on the media and politics, there's an increasing amount of BBC-style content to make the proposition more enticing.
Early next month the official launch of the digital terrestrial (DTT) Freeview service will be held. There are advantages in going with the terrestrial service over the satellite option for those considering a move to Freeview - you may already have a UHF antenna on your roof which is capable of picking up the digital signal saving you money.
Freeview HD will also be high-definition capable, so if you have a compatible flat-screen TV you'll be able to view high definition broadcasts in all their glory.
But at launch the Freeview DTT service is far from attractive. For starters, there's only one certified set-top box available, a Zinwell model that will sell for around the $500 mark. That's a hefty sum just for a receiver - something that starts to put us in the price range of personal video recorders.
But the Zinwell is no PVR, just a bog-standard MPEG-4 receiver. There won't be a PVR available for Freeview until later in the year and there will be no LCDs or plasma screens on sale next month with integrated tuners that can handle Freeview.
Coupled with that, it looks as though there will be a decided lack of HD content from TVNZ at least until the Olympics when we'll get a splurge of HD coverage of the sports action. A little HD icon will pop up alongside the programmes on the Freeview menu that will be delivered in 720p or 1080i high-definition.
The Olympics in HD will be great but as for popular TV shows and movies on TVNZ, HD broadcasts aren't likely to happen until next year. TV3 may come up with some HD content, we'll hopefully find out next week. What we will get for standard definition broadcasts on Freeview is upconverting from standard definition to high definition broadcast.
There's always debate about the effectiveness of upconverting which works a bit like DVD players that upscale standard definition DVD video to make it look better. I watched some upconverted TV1 feeds on a Philips hi-def screen in at TVNZ yesterday and the picture looked pretty good.
The content on the HD test channel that is already broadcasting looks particularly impressive - you really notice the difference over standard-definition TV. The feed was being delivered by a tiny internal UHF antenna which was very impressive considering the room we were in at TVNZ is buried in the middle of the building. For many households, an internal antenna will suffice.
The Freeview platform is impressive in its simplicity, which is needed to get viewers onboard in numbers. All up though, I think the lack of compelling HD content, the pricey Zinwell hardware and lack of PVR and integrated tuners in TV sets is going to mean Freeview's terrestrial play gets off to a sluggish start.
The alternative set-top box suppliers are unusually subdued on the matter - they were quick off the mark supplying cheaper rival boxes to the Hills and Zinwell satellite receivers last year. But terrestrial is a different proposition due to the higher technical specifications Freeview has settled on, which are similar to those used in France, where it became mandatory this month for new TVs to have digital tuners built into them.
There are reports from local set-top box suppliers and retailers that getting cheap (ie: China-sourced) set-top boxes that support MPEG-4 and the AAC audio codec is proving tricky.
Interestingly, Freeview, based on the more commonly used MPEG-2 standard, is going off in Britain where 9.7 million TVs, set-top boxes and PVRs capable of receiving Freeview were sold last year.
Plus, it looks like Australia is actually going to follow the Freeview model operating here, even if that means killing Channel Seven's TiVo plans before they even get off the ground.